While the others were sleeping, Akatsuki was carving a piece of wood with a sharp dagger with Reylom at her side, looking at the fire.
She spoke in a low voice without looking at him: “You seem distracted. Care to share with me your deepest thoughts?”
“Sorry… I was just thinking… Your new look is still puzzling me.”
She stopped with the dagger still touching the wood and looked at him. “Why? You don’t like the way I look now? Because I sure do!”
“No… I mean, of course, I like you. You are extremely beautiful, and you didn’t change inside where it really matters. It’s just… no, never mind…”
“It has something to do with your preference for little girls, and because I am now a grownup woman, I am not so appealing?”
“Nothing like that; I kind of got used to you being a cute little girl,
